Bottom mount refrigerators include a freezer compartment on the bottom, with the fresh food or refrigerator compartment above the freezer compartment. One or more doors provide access to the fresh food compartment, and a separate door provides access to the freezer compartment. The freezer door or doors may be drawer-type doors that are pulled out, or they may be hingedly connected similar to the refrigerator compartment doors, such that they are rotated to provide access within.
In many current bottom mount style refrigerators, cold air from the freezer compartment is used to produce ice in a conventional ice maker located at one of the refrigerator doors. To transfer the cold air from the freezer to the ice maker, air ducts and a fan or fans are used. As such, the overall energy efficiency of the refrigerator is reduced because part of the cold air is used to make ice, and not to cool the freezer compartment.
In addition, the ice making efficiency is reduced due to the heat gained on the air path from the freezer compartment to the ice maker tray. There is also increased condensation at the back panel of the refrigerator due to the ice maker air duct being located close thereto. Another issue can arise if the gaskets installed in the ice box assembly of the ice maker are faulty, and allow air leakage. The cold air from the freezer can leak into the refrigerator compartment, thus having the possibility of freezing the items in the compartment.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for cooling water in an ice maker to create ice, that does not utilize the at or below freezing air from the freezer compartment. There is also a need for a method of making ice that reduces the condensation on the outside of the refrigerator, and reduces the risk of allowing the cold air to leak into other compartments of the refrigerator.